Dabbous

Came when it first opened and had the longer tasting menu which blew me away. Heard it was closing and got a Time Out offer for £59 for the 6-course tasting menu and it was just as fabulous - not to mention amazing value at that price. My girlfriend is pretty fussy (doesn't like fruit, cheese, egg) and they swapped 3/6 dishes for her for ones from the other menu without as much as a raised eyebrow. Food itself was interesting, beautifully presented, and tasty. Hard to pick out favourites, but the alium in pine broth (with pickled red/white onions) was really good, as was the pea-mint soup. Coddled egg with mushrooms was so smokey. Grilled octopus, which I don't normally like, was well cooked but the star of that dish was the accompanying salad - fennel and dill. My non-fruit loving girlfriend actually liked the mango palate cleanser, spruced up with thai basil. Service was flawless. I will miss Dabbous but look forward excitedly to his next venture...